Colin Kaepernick last played in the 2016 season and hasn't found a team for his services since

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SANTA CLARA, CA – JANUARY 01: Colin Kaepernick #7 of the San Francisco 49ers drops back to pass against the Seattle Seahawks at Levi’s Stadium on January 1, 2017 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell earned a fraction of his $44 million salary this week at a Super Bowl news conference and disinformation jamboree in Atlanta.

If you blinked, you missed it.

According to TMZ, Goodell was addressing reporters and a few NFL owners when he was asked about Colin Kaepernick’s enforced idleness. Kaepernick, the former 49ers quarterback who in 2016 founded the silent take-a-knee protest — which created consternation up to and including the highest office in the land — has attempted since to find an NFL team interested in his services. He hasn’t been on a roster since the end of the 2016 season.

When asked about the curious indifference toward Kaepernick, the commish launched into an oration that could have been commissioned by a presidential speech writer.

“Our clubs are the ones that make decisions on players that they want to have on their roster,” Goodell said, according to TMZ. “They make that individually. They make that in the best interests of their team. They all want to win, and they’re going to do whatever they can to win.”

Friendly advice, Roger old bean: Think twice before flying that fairy tale in Oakland, where Jon “Tank” Gruden off-loaded Khalil Mack and Amari Cooper, consigning the Raiders’ season to an afterthought in the process. Or in Washington, where the NFL franchise had two quarterbacks suffer broken legs in the span of 16 days. The team brought in Mark Sanchez, who hadn’t thrown a pass in anger in two years, and backed him up with the ghost of Slingin’ Sammy Baugh.

When Goodell’s remarks reached the ears of Mark Geragos, the attorney representing Kaepernick in his collusion grievance against the NFL, the fun hit the fan.

Geragos hopped right on over to NBC’s “Today” show, and we can prove it:

“I think the commissioner was roasted appropriately on social media… The whole thing is basically a ruse. The collusion actually was the NFL kowtowing to the President.” Mark Geragos, Colin Kaepernick’s attorney, on Roger Goodell’s recent comments about Kaepernick pic.twitter.com/91zD2KNM5z

“Why didn’t anybody ever bring (Kaepernick) in and see where his skills were at?” Geragos asked. “I think the whole thing is basically a ruse.

“Ths collusion actually was the NFL kowtowing to (President Donald Trump). There isn’t anybody who’s got a couple of neurons firing that wouldn’t say this is collusive activity.”

CBSsports.com has reported that the grievance will be ruled upon early this year in Philadelphia, with the process likely to take two weeks at an “upscale hotel” close to the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where arbitrator Stephen Burbank is a professor.

Gary Peterson is a sports writer for the Bay Area News Group. His prior assignments included 31 years as a sports columnist, serving as a general assignment news reporter, covering courts and writing a metro column before finding his way back to sports.